Ingrate
That's me. You'd think that the announcement of DC: THE NEW FRONTIER in an Absolute edition would have me shouting from the rooftops in glee, given the ration of grief I've handed to DC about splitting the story into two softcover volumes for bookstores. You'd think that.
And part of me is. Very very happy because I'll get a bigger, prettier edition of one of my favorite comics ever. Never a bad thing. But once the initial euphoria wore off, I realized that in a way, this is as much of a limitation to readership as is splitting the book into two volumes months apart. Normal humans who read books don't want to pay eighty bucks plus for a story, even if it's a gorgeous package. This is collectors only. That's fine, I collect some of the time. I'll admit it.
But most folks don't. Most folks will take a pass on NEW FRONTIER given sticker shock. Howsabout a simple, no-nonsense single volume, standard size? That's the kind of thing that you're going to be able to point readers at and get some response. A whole story in one sitting. Yeah, it's superheroes, but it's superheroes that most everyone knows, with enough meat on the works to make it interesting for culture vultures and hepcats and folks who just want to see the good guys come together and work towards a common goal without having exploding heads thrust in their faces and minus the ultra-salacious ("Dr. Light did WHAT!?) content of other works of late.
You put INFINITE CRISIS and NEW FRONTIER in front of your average reader and I bet you'd get a lot more response from one than the other. And that one would be the one that Darwyn Cooke meticulously researched and pulled out of his own heart and soul.
At least that's how it'd work in a more perfect world.